Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-09-24
CHAPTER XIII.
ABOUT THE zU-vrNpr pEopIr

And now the curtain is down for a few
hours, and the actors in this novel drama are
|pinhged in dewy sleep Perhaps we should
sMxcept Nyleptha, whom the reader may, IL
lpoetically inclined, imagine lying in her bed
OF state encompassed by her maidens, firing
women, guards and al other people and ap-
p~urtenances that surround a throne, and yet
not aBle to slumber for thinking Of the stran-
gers who had visited a county where no such
Strangers had ever come before, and wonder
ing, rs she lay awake, who they were and
what their past had been, and If She was
ugly compared to tho women Of their native
place. however, not being POLITICALLY in
clined, VII take advantage Of the iull to give
some account of the people among whom we
found ourselves, complied, needless to state,
fronS Information which we Subsequently col
lected.
The name Of this country, to begin ct the
beginning, is Zu-vendis, from Zu, syellow,n
md Vendis, ''place or country.n Why it il
JAILED the Yellow Country | have never been
able to ascertain accurately, nor do the in
labitants themselves know. Three reasons
IRE, however, given, each Of which would
ufiice to account for it. The first is that the
name owes its origia to the great quantity OF
go& that is found in the land. Indeed, in.
bis respect Zu-Vendis is a veritable Eldorado,
he precious metal being extraordinarily plen-
iful.
The second reason given is, that at certain
easons Of the year the native grasses OF the
,oARtry, which are very sweet and good,
urn as yellow as ripe corn; and the third
krises from a tradition that the people were
= originally yellow skinned, but grew white
fter living for many generations upon these
Ugh lands. Zu-Vendis is a country about
he size Of France, is, roughly speaking, oval
shape, and on every side cut off from the.
surrounding territory by illimitable forests Of
mpenetrable thorn, beyond Which are said to
be hundreds Of miles of morasses, deserts and
reat mountains. 1t is, in short, a huge, high
ablaeand rising up in the center Of the dark
ointment, much as in southern Africa fat
opped mountains rise from the level Of the
u~rrounding veldt. Milosis itself lies, accord
ng to my areroid, at a level of about 1900
eet above the sea, but most OF the land Is
yenMhigher, the greatest elevation Of the
pei country being. ] believe, about 1900
eet AS a consequence the climate Is, com
laratively speaking, a cold one, being very
Pipilar to that of southern England, only
lighter and not 50 rainy. The land is, how
T1r, exceedingly fertile, and grows all cereals
nd temperate fruits and timber TO perfec-
ion; and in the lower lying parts even pro-
noes q hardy variety of sugar cnne. Coal is
ound in gr-easabundalce, and in many places
rops out from the surface; and SO is pure
harble, both black and white. The same
nay be said Of almost every metal except
liver, which is scarce, and only to be OBJ.
aimed from q range OF mountains in The
orth.
Z1Vendis comprises in her boundaries Q
real variety of scenery, including two
anges of snowclad mountains, one on the
|gesteru boundary beyond the impenetrablt
elt of thorn forest, and the other piercing
'ae country from north to south, and passing
T. assistance OF about eighty miles from Milo
Is. x5rom which town its higher peaks ar,
~istinctly visible. This range forms the chic
Hatershed Of the land. There are also thre'
2arge lakes-the biggest, namely that where
h we emerged, and which is named Milosi
fter the city, covering some 2c squar
niles of country-and numerous small ones
pine of them salt.
The popalation Of this favored land Is, com
aratively speaking, dense, numbering at
pugh estimate from 100000 to I2,000,00O
S to their descent. l can give no certain IN
vmation. Their written records which ex
md back for about 1000 years, give no hin
I it, One very ancient chronicler does in
eed, in abiding TO some old tradition tina
xistsa in his day, talk of 1t as having prot
bly, Originally ~come Town with the peopl
Rom the coast" but that mny mean little G
othing. In short, the origin Of the Zu-Vent
lost in the mists Of time. Whence the
Ame or OF what race they are no man know
heir architecture aud some OF their scHll
lres sasgert IN Egyptian or possibly an A